By GREG JOHNS, P-I REPORTER

Published 10:00 pm, Tuesday, April 22, 2008

New e-mail evidence indicating that Clay Bennett wasn't interested in owning the Sonics if they remained in Seattle even before his group's purchase of the NBA franchise is included in a lawsuit filed by former owner Howard Schultz on Tuesday seeking to rescind the sale.

The suit, filed by the Starbucks chairman in U.S. District Court, charges that Bennett's group committed fraud in misleading Schultz and his Seattle-based partnership by promising they'd make good-faith efforts to keep the team in Seattle.

The 12-page complaint states that Bennett's Oklahoma-based group told Schultz's Basketball Club of Seattle at the time of the July 18, 2006, purchase, "It is our desire to have the Sonics and the Storm continue their existence in the Greater Seattle Area and it is not our intention to move or relocate the team."

According to the suit, "that statement was false from the moment it was made."

The complaint, written by Seattle attorney Richard Yarmuth, details a new e-mail from Bennett to his partners two days before the sale in which he said he was comfortable with the Purchase Agreement's good-faith provision because if Seattle did negotiate a new arena deal, the Oklahoma City group could sell the team in a "sweet flip" in order to obtain a different team for Oklahoma City.

The complaint further says, "These Oklahoma City businessmen wanted a team that would play in Oklahoma City -- not in Seattle. They were willing to lie, and did lie, to complete the deal. Under these circumstances, principles of law and equity do not permit defendant to continue to own the property it fraudulently obtained."

The suit seeks to void the sale and impose a "constructive trust from which the defendant can be ordered to convey the Sonics to an honest buyer who desires to keep the Sonics in Seattle."

Much of the information in the suit has already been made public, including later e-mails between Bennett and fellow investors Aubrey McClendon and Tom Ward in which he talks about "being a man possessed" in getting the team out of Seattle, as well as McClendon's quotes in an Oklahoma City publication saying the group didn't buy the team to keep it in Seattle.

But the claim also points out a July 13, 2006, teleconference between the two groups five days before the sale's announcement during which Bennett and G. Edward Evans, an initial co-investor who later dropped out of the Oklahoma contingent, both told the Sonics board of directors that it was their desire to keep the franchise in the Puget Sound area.

"Messrs. Bennett and Evans knew or should have known when they made those statements that the Board would rely on their statements in making its decision whether to approve the sale of the Sonics," the suit states.

The suit says Schultz, as chairman of the team's Board of Directors, insisted Bennett write a side letter confirming the Oklahoma City group's statements. Bennett then wrote to Schultz, "It is our desire to have the Sonics and the Storm continue their existence in the Greater Seattle Area" and said the group had no "intention to move or relocate" if a new lease arrangement could be negotiated in Seattle.

That commitment was also written into the Purchase Agreement, which states, "For a period of 1 to 12 months after the Closing Date, Buyer shall use good faith best efforts to negotiate an arena lease, purchase, use or similar arrangement in (the Greater Seattle area)."

The suit is filed on behalf of the Basketball Club of Seattle by Canarsie Holdings LLC, a limited liability company owned by Schultz, and "seeks to deprive the Oklahoma City group of the fruits of its deception."

Schultz, the chairman of a group of 58 investors who owned the Sonics and Storm from 2001-06, filed the suit on behalf of the entire BCOS. The suit notes that the Seattle ownership group has not been in operating mode since the sale was approved on Aug. 21, 2006, and is not in position to regroup in a timely manner or "currently have the financial resources to finance this litigation."

In addition to asking that the ownership be turned back to a trust that would sell to Seattle buyers, the suit requests that Bennett's group provide a full accounting of the financial condition of the team so potential buyers could accurately assess its worth.

It also asks for a preliminary injunction to prohibit the Oklahoma owners from "taking any action that would compromise the value of the Sonics" or otherwise interfere with a fair resolution, as well as covering all attorney fees and providing "whatever additional relief the Court may determine to be just and equitable."